


Mr Shitty Author

by rachelle (stevebuckyrach)



Series: Fluffy Meet-Cute AUs [5]
Category: Captain America (Movies), Captain America - All Media Types, Marvel
Genre: Bucky Barnes is a famous author, M/M, Meet-Cute, Steve Rogers is a skinny hipster, i don't wanna spoil anything so i'm just gonna leave it at that, oh! and Steve's an illustrator, poor steve
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-12-30
Updated: 2014-12-30
Packaged: 2018-03-04 10:44:24
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,780
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3064865
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/stevebuckyrach/pseuds/rachelle
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Bucky Barnes, also known as J. B. Barnes, is a successful author. He meets his biggest fan and they fall in love. Who's surprised.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Mr Shitty Author

**Author's Note:**

  * Translation into 中文 available: [Mr Shitty Author](https://archiveofourown.org/works/3236837) by [joankindom](https://archiveofourown.org/users/joankindom/pseuds/joankindom)



Bucky Barnes loved winter more than any other season, partly because his publisher went on vacation and stopped harassing him to finish his chapter of whatever book he was writing at the time, partly because he had the chance to go home to Brooklyn.

And that was exactly where James was departing an aeroplane to. Brooklyn in the winter was single-handedly the most beautiful thing Bucky had ever seen, therefore as he sat down in his seat, the man's excitement was pretty much peaking. If he hadn't banned himself from writing over his vacation, Bucky would have been working on the children's series he had just started.

Bucky Barnes was an author, a rather successful one, also known as J. B. Barnes. He liked to keep his personal life separate from his professional life, mainly due to liking his privacy, but also due to the rather intimidating popularity his books possess.

J. B. Barnes was all the readers knew; that, and whatever he chose to write on his blog. Bucky's blog was mainly pictures of scenery and his cat, along with the odd recommendation for less well-known authors, and some hilariously inaccurate theories about who he really was. The theories ranged from "a man who wants to ruin our lives because he's divorced with 103 cats" all the way to "the queen of England. guys. it's the queen of England." Bucky wished the first one was true, however he was just a regular guy. A regular guy with a bit of extra money and a rather large imagination. 

Bucky wrote predominantly teen/adult books which always got a bit weird and slightly messed-up but he was currently writing a series of stories for younger children. This was an odd change of genre, however his publisher was set on branching out to a larger audience and he guessed it would be kind of fun to vary his writing.

Bucky's thoughts were broken as someone sat down next to him. Brooklyn in the winter was single-handedly the most beautiful thing Bucky had ever seen. That was before the man turned and smiled at him.

"Hey," the gorgeous little guy with the wispy blonde hair and hipster glasses said, smiling at Bucky. "I'm Steve Rogers."

Bucky was kind of stunned and realised he'd been staring for too long before clearing his throat and smiling back. "Hi, um I'm Bucky."

"Bucky?"

"Short for Buchanan."

Steve chuckled, searching through his hand luggage. "I like it."

"Thanks," Bucky smiled as the other man moved to put his bag in the compartment above their heads. He wanted to offer to help the little guy but before he got the chance, Steve was sitting back down again with a book in one hand and a MacBook in the other. A MacBook. Covered in stickers of different brands and bands and was that a Starbucks sticker?! Could this guy get any more hipster? 

Bucky stopped himself from laughing as Steve pulled down the small table and opened up his laptop. The desktop background was some black and white mountains which made Bucky roll his eyes, yet also fall in love with him a little bit too. 

As Steve opened up Safari, Bucky almost choked on his own breath. His blog. Steve was on his blog. Remembering to breathe, Bucky squinted at the book Steve had placed in the pocket of the seat in front of him and immediately recognised the cover. His Future or His Past was Bucky's newest book from the Winter Soldier series. The series followed the lives of two young men who went to war in the 1900s before reuniting in the 21st century as two very different people. The book, His Future or His Past, was where Bucky had revealed the relationship the two boys had previously shared, delving into the restrictions they faced in the 1900s compared with the types of restrictions they faced later on, when homosexuality was the least of their issues. This had been a brave move that Bucky had made, however pretty much all of his reviews had been outstanding and the book was his most popular so far. 

So really, seeing someone reading it shouldn't have come as such a shock to Bucky, but seeing Steve read it was sure to stop his heart. 

During his little freak-out, Steve had pulled the book out of the compartment and was currently reading it with a rather serious expression on his face. Bucky found himself amused by Steve's changing expressions as he read through each page, fully aware of which part he was reading by the faces he was pulling. 

Every so often, Steve would refresh the Safari tab before going back to reading the book which Bucky found completely and utterly endearing, if he was being honest. 

After around twenty minutes of silence between the pair, Bucky decided to speak up.

"What are you reading?" Bucky asked before mentally slapping himself for not being able to come up with anything better. 

Steve's smile was radiant as he put the book face down on his laptop keyboard before turning to Bucky. 

"His Future or His Past. It's by J. B. Barnes? It's the new one."

"Oh," Bucky smiled, not sure of how to continue this without being completely obvious or losing all of his modesty. 

"Have you read any of his stuff?" Steve asked, clearly excited by this discussion. 

"Um, I don't think so." Bucky laughed, "Is it good?"

"Yes. He/She/They whatever is a perfect human being. I feel like it's a guy but yeah, they're anonymous. You should totally read them! Whatever books you're in to, Barnes has one. Like this series is about two soldiers and this book is actually kinda heartbreaking but he does scary shit and romantic ones and he's really funny but not in an annoying way.. He's the love of my life."

Bucky couldn't stop himself from laughing, hoping the serious blush covering his cheeks was covered by the laughter. "Wow, you like his books then!"

"Hey, don't laugh! If you've never read them, you can't judge me." Steve laughed along with Bucky, before shaking his head, "I'm being serious, man. Read this series. Unless you're offended by gay couples."

Bucky nudged Steve's arm as he saw the slightly worried look in the little guy's eyes. "I'm not offended by them, pal. I'll look it up but no promises, alright?" Bucky smirked as Steve's smile returned again. 

"So, Bucky, what do you do for a living?"

"I'm an author," Bucky said with a smile. 

Steve raised an eyebrow, "You're an author and you've never heard of Barnes?"

"I'm a children's author. I write children's books."

"Word on the street is that Barnes is too. Maybe you two could be buddies. He could teach you a thing or two."

Bucky laughed, rolling his eyes. "Yeah yeah, Barnes this, Barnes that, nice to know he's got your heart. So what do you do for a living, if being a children's author's not good enough for the precious Steve Rogers?"

Steve smiled brightly, "I'm an illustrator."

"An illustrator?" Bucky asked, wondering why he'd never heard of Steve before. 

"Yes, Mr Shitty Author, I'm an illustrator. Oh, sorry, does your vocabulary not expand that far?" Steve teased, a smirk spreading across his face. 

Bucky shook his head, chuckling. "I know what an illustrator is, you asshole. I meant, what do you illustrate?"

"Currently, I illustrate children's books. Hence, me knowing you're a shitty author as I only draw for the best ones."

"Like who?"

"I illustrated the re-dos of the Roald Dahl classics. And I'm on first name terms with Jacqueline Wilson who is the most famous children's book author in Britain. So suck a dick, Buchanan."

Bucky snorted (attractive, Barnes, congratulations), "Well unless you wanna join the mile high club, I doubt that's gonna happen any time soon."

The blush on Steve's cheeks made Bucky laugh even harder before he grabbed Steve's book. "Would you ever draw for this dude?"

Steve snatched the book back, swatting Bucky's hands away. "Are you serious? I'd literally donate all my limbs to charity if that ever happened. I mean I can draw anything so I know I could do it, not to toot my own horn but it's my only talent so why not."

Bucky smiled as Steve stood up to get what appeared to be a notebook out of his luggage before taking his seat again. 

"Have a look, if you want." Steve's smile became slightly more reserved as Bucky flipped open the sketchbook. 

"Fuck," Bucky mumbled, gently turning each page. The book was full of drawings of landscapes, people, animals (mainly Bucky's cat from his blog), adorable little sketches, strange monsters, detailed line drawings.. Bucky was literally in awe. "This is fuckin' incredible."

Rolling his eyes, Steve took the book off Bucky before zipping it back into his bag. "I know I'm not the only person that can draw but I love it, y'know?"

"Steve, keep doing it. Seriously, I've had meetings with a lot of illustrators, and I mean a lot, but not one of them have had the kinda talent you have. Shit, Rogers, you can even draw people and no one seems to be able to do that properly."

Laughing, Steve drops his head, his blush now furiously pink. "I've been drawing what I think J. B. Barnes looks like for years."

"Oh yeah, what do you reckon then?"

Steve lifts his head to look at Bucky, "Are you want to open that can of worms?"

Bucky laughed, knocking his shoulder against Steve's. "Yeah, c'mon, pal, I'm intrigued."

"Okay, well blame yourself for this." Steve clicked on his Documents before finding a folder of images of sketches that he'd obviously scanned onto his laptop. 

Opening the first image, Steve's smile grew. "I think he's about 38 years old, and I know I look about 18 but I'm actually 25 so we could make it work."

"So he's nearly old enough to be your dad?"

"He could be my daddy any day."

Bucky choked on the water he was drinking, "STEVE."

Smirking at Bucky's reaction, Steve rolled his eyes. "That's my name."

"Please stop, oh god, he's not 38!", Bucky said hurriedly, trying to breathe. 

Steve raised an eyebrow, turning to face Bucky, "So you've heard of him? Oh my god, are you a fan?"

"Yes, I've heard of him. He's 27 and he's a man. I'm not exactly a fan though, I mean he's obviously good at what he does but reading his stuff would make me want to pull my hair ou-"

"27? You think he's 27?"

Bucky groaned, "No. I know he's 27."

Steve appeared slightly annoyed with Bucky's attitude. "How? I've read every single piece of shit 'proof' about him and none of it even makes sense, it's just bullshit that a load of fangirls have put together to make them feel better about themselves being in love with an author who's first name they don't even know. I mean at least I've accepted the fact that he's never going to fall in love with me and he's almost definitely straight." 

"I wouldn't agree with any of the last part."

Steve laughed sharply, "Oh yeah, Buchanan says J. B. Barnes is gay and could fall in love with me, so it's totally going to happen!"

Bucky rolled his eyes, as he took his notebook and pen out of the compartment. Steve watched as Bucky slowly wrote something on the first page, getting impatient as Bucky stared at it for a number of moments before finally sliding the book across to Steve. 

'James Buchanan "Bucky" Barnes  
27 - Not 38  
Gay - Definitely  
Author - Also known as Mr Shitty Author  
Slightly in love with Steve Rogers'

Steve read the page around five times before summoning the courage to look up at Bucky. Bucky had a small smirk on his face at Steve's deer-in-headlights expression.

"You okay?" Bucky asked, putting his bottle of water in front of Steve. 

Steve remained silent and still as the pilot announced the plane was due to land at Brooklyn in 15 minutes. 

Bucky frowned, "Stev-"

"How do I know you're telling the truth?" Steve questioned.

Bucky rolled his eyes, "I'm telling the truth. I want you to illustrate my books. I need one for my children's books, oh yeah, I'm doing a children's series. Um, I'll give you my number and my publisher's number and we can sort something out? If you want."

"You're actually him? Oh my fucking god, you're J. B. Barnes. Y-You're him." Steve's breathing became visibly erratic as he reached into his pocket and pulled out an inhaler. 

Bucky frowned, shoving his water bottle into Steve's hand. "Just breathe and drink some water, pal."

Steve's hands shook as he took the bottle from Bucky, interchanging between sipping the water and taking puffs of his inhaler. As his breathing became steady again, Steve began to laugh, covering his face with his hands. "Wow, that was smooth."

"I nearly killed you!" Bucky said, feeling slightly guilty for putting the little guy through that. 

"I've literally been declaring my love for you for about an hour, I showed you pictures I've drawn of you, I nearly had an asthma attack, I called you a shitty author. I called you my daddy." Steve groaned feebly into his hands. "I visioned this meeting going many different ways but this, this, was not one of them."

"Hey," Bucky laughed, "It could have gone worse."

"How? How could this have gone worse?" Steve sounded muffled with his face in his hands so Bucky couldn't tell how Steve was actually feeling about this. 

Sighing Bucky gently moved Steve's hands off his face. "Do you want to start again?"

Steve nodded, running a hand through his hair. 

"Hey you look like you're a cute hipster punk with a good taste in books, I'm James Buchanan Barnes but most people call me Bucky. I also think I kinda love you a little bit."

Steve's smile returned as he gently hit Bucky's arm. "Fuck you, I'm not a hipster. I'm indie. You look like you're a gorgeous not 38 year old jerk with a few writing skills, I'm Steven Grant Rogers but most people call me Steve. Well you fucking know I'm completely in love you so shut up, douchebag."

Bucky's smirk grew as Steve's embarrassment faded away and his grin appeared again. "Well, what do you say?"

"To what?"

"Be my illustrator. And go on a date with me."

Steve smiled, rolling his eyes dramatically. "Fine. I'll go on a date with you if it means I get to illustrate for you."

*****

Steve climbed out of bed, frowning at Bucky's absence. As he walked into the living room, Steve sighed as he walked over to a sleeping Bucky on the couch.

"Buck?" Steve whispered, shaking Bucky's shoulder. "Why are you out here?"

Bucky groaned as he opened his eyes, "Couldn't sleep."

"Clearly not," Steve laughed, kissing Bucky's cheek. "Come back to bed, you lump."

As Bucky stood up, Steve grabbed his hand and laced their fingers together before pulling him into the bedroom. 

Their hands remained connected as they got into bed and cuddled together, Steve resting his head on Bucky's chest.

"I've got something for you." Bucky smiled, kissing the top of Steve's head, before reaching into his bedside table and taking out a book. 

Steve sat up and grabbed the book from Bucky, excitement building up inside his body. "Is it the ne-"

"Yes," Bucky laughed, leaning his head to kiss Steve's arm. 

As Steve read the title his heart pounded in his chest. Time Didn't Matter was the last book in the Winter Soldier series and came after His Future or His Past. Steve, along with all the other fans, had been waiting for way too long for the book to be released and Steve knew the release date wasn't for a few days yet. 

"Thank you," Steve smiled, exploring the front and back covers of the book in great detail. 

Bucky chuckled to himself, "Open it, you dork."

Steve gently opened the front cover to the acknowledgements, his heart still racing. 

'This is for my husband. I'm glad you're My Future. I'm also glad I'm still not 38.'

Tears filled Steve's eyes as he laughed, thinking about the memory. "I love you, Buck."

Bucky curled his arms around Steve, bring him back down on the bed. "I love you too, Stevie. Always have."

"Always will." Steve mumbled sleepily, wrapping his arm around Bucky's torso. 

"Always." Bucky whispered, slowly falling asleep to the sound of his husband's gentle breathing on his chest.

**Author's Note:**

> Steve and Bucky getting married is all I need.


End file.
